River crossing revision needed in Mayo road 'solution'

A RIVER crossing on a road improvement project on the R312 has to be revised, to keep it down to the minimum.

The Roads Design Office has proposed a solution to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

Councillors in the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District have been pushing for improvements on the route, which is a critical link between Erris and Castlebar.

One project on the road involves the removal of a bad bend at Glenisland, and diverting the road, which is ongoing, acting head of roads Conrad Harley told elected members at a meeting.

They have met with IFI who have posed a challenge to them about how they deal with a river crossing in the realignment.

The project is not stopped but they are reviewing how to get this alignment across the stream that's there.

A proposed solution has been put to IFI and the roads design team are going to work through that.

They have to reduce the river crossing down to a minimum, he explained.

On other works, there is a further 10 kilometres of proposed road strengthening at the Bellacorrick end, spread over 12 kilometres, proposed to the department, and an allocation is awaited, to complete those works on a phased basis.

Councillor Sean Carey said it was 'discouraging' to hear about the problem with IFI and he hoped the problems can be ironed out and works proceed as soon as possible.

He suggested the R312 should receive strategic road designation in order to attract large funding.

The route, he said, has so many bumps it is nearly like being on the sea when travelling on it.

Councillor Gerry Coyle branded the road 'an absolute disgrace' and he would ask anyone in the department to strap themselves into an ambulance to see how people suffer.

He highlighted issues, like last year when the road closed when trees were brought down by the weight of snow. And it's so covered in that it doesn't thaw when there's frost, while receiving very little salt, he said.

Meanwhile along the lake there's no barrier, just a few bushes.

“It's a disgrace that road,” said Councillor Coyle, “and we cannot let it go on. We need it done urgently.”

*Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.